ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the various agencies that have key roles in investment liberalisation in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process. Economic Ministers established the Committee on Trade and Investment in their Declaration on Trade and Investment in 1993. The Declaration referred specifically to the need for promoting regional trade, investment and financial resource flows, human resources development, industry cooperation and infrastructure development. The report of the 1994 Leaders' Meeting in Bogor clearly enunciated for the first time what has become known as APEC's three pillars – trade and investment liberalisation, trade and investment facilitation and economic cooperation. The actual terms of the non-binding investment principles appear to be modelled on the investment provisions of the North American Free Trade Area. The most commonly accepted forum for resolving state-foreign investor disputes is the international arbitration institution established under the International Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.
